[UX][D8] Merge the "List links" and "Edit menu" operations into a single administration page.

[jenlampton]

For Backdrop, we should build the functionality of simplified_menu_admin module into core. It combines the list of links with the title and description fields, so we can reduce the menu administration forms from 2 into one.

Here's how it would look (with the already ported simplified_menu_admin module):

Here's how the respective admin page looks like in vanilla D8 after https://www.drupal.org/node/663946 got merged:

[klonos]

++

[docwilmot]

+++

On Thu, Dec 18, 2014 at 4:52 PM, klonos notifications@github.com wrote:

++

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/backdrop/backdrop-issues/issues/475#issuecomment-67563359 .

[biolithic]

This has been ported to contrib https://github.com/backdrop-contrib/simplified_menu_admin

[klonos]

Thanx @biolithic!! :+1:

...I'll deploy to some of my installations and check the issue queue of the original module at d.org. If any issues apply to our port, I'll file separate issues in our queue. Hopefully, when everything has been polished, we can merge it into core. Yay!!!

[biolithic]

Some of the issues are "there is an issue" "not in my install/postponed - need more info on the issue"...so...hmm...I guess more manual checking will need to happen

On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 6:48 PM, Gregory Netsas notifications@github.com wrote:

Thanx @biolithic https://github.com/biolithic!! [image: :+1:]

...I'll deploy to some of my installations and check the issue queue of the original module at d.org. If they apply to our port, I'll file separate issues in the module queue. Hopefully, when everything has been polished, we can merge it into core. Yay!!!

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/backdrop/backdrop-issues/issues/475#issuecomment-156282669 .

[klonos]

...just filed a first issue: https://github.com/backdrop-contrib/simplified_menu_admin/issues/1 :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

[klonos]

@jenlampton: I've edited the original issue summary to include link to the ported module and screenshots of Backdrop with it installed as well as vanilla D8 respective edit menu admin page (for comparison purposes). Hope it's ok with you.

[klonos]

Over in #3029, the menu browser that we are discussing about implementing in the node edit form may not be a good fit for the menu editing page (because we'd need to be able to specify menu item label, path, etc. in the same UI).

I feel that something like the UI provided by https://www.drupal.org/project/menu_editor would be a better fit here:

@findlabnet

One question: where is the place for language in this hierarchy?

@indigoxela

That's a good point. For the node form that's no problem, because node menu items follow the node language.

But we need to take care that the menu form table doesn't get cluttered with too many columns. And I also don't like the abbreviated column headers (enabled, expanded) in the "power edit" screenshot above. I'm sure, there's a better solution.

[klonos]

Yup, we simply cannot fit everything in a single table like that - I meant to use that screenshot as an example. I think that there would need to be only the most basic/common things exposed as columns (IMO, those should be the label, path, language, and enabled/disabled checkboxes); the rest like the description seem less important, so they would simply need to remain "hidden".

Perhaps the last column could be an "Operations" column, with a "Configure" button, which would open a dialog (similar to the way that things work with the text filters table).

Another option would be to have all the "secondary" settings for each menu item expand/collapse (same way that the more/less links work in the site status page). Menu item editing in WordPress works in a similar fashion:

...when you expand each menu, more options are revealed:

It's interesting how they have this collapsible "Screen Options" panel at the top of the menu editing page, which when expanded allows defining more advanced settings for each menu item (their "Title attribute" is our menu item "Description"):

As you can see from the screenshots, WordPress also has this "Manage with Live Preview" option, which allows editing menus in the same fashion the color settings page works for our themes. Interesting! 🤔 ...I've tested it, and there was a tiny glitch or two, but I did appreciate the ability to view my changes live. I imagine that it's very useful for menus with a few items, but it is not ideal when wanting to mass-edit menus with a large amount of menu items.